1. Field of the Invention
A pinion gear for transmitting rotary motion to a drive assembly for an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) is provided wherein the pinion gear is spline coupled directly to a drive shaft.
2. Description of Background Art
Hithertofore, pinion gears have been provided for all-terrain vehicles wherein a collar is positioned on the input side of the pinion gear for providing a spline to couple the pinion gear to the drive shaft. This arrangement requires a threaded section to be formed in an end portion of the input side of the pinion gear so as to permit a nut to retain the collar relative thereto. A conventional pinion gear for an all-terrain vehicle is expensive to construct in view of the multiple parts that are required and the machining to secure the parts relative to each other.
It is difficult to service a pinion gear of a conventional all-terrain vehicle due to the complicated arrangement which requires disconnecting the threaded nut and the collar during repairs.